RP Stories / Alpha's Absence
The darkness of a moonless night hung low over the Briar, with only the starlight to stave off complete blackness. The wolves that kept watch had shuttered their lanterns to better accustom their eyes to darkness, and those who remained in camp had long since gone to sleep. The sounds of peaceful sleep came from the Jira's hut as she curled up under her woollen blankets, and Môr murmured in her sleep in the tent nearby. In their hut, Kyphis and Tara slept soundly in their great nest of furs and blankets, and while the three brothers of Cerberus had their own tent with three matching bedrolls, the Ferals slept wherever they pleased, hunkered down in their furs for warmth. Even the newest arrival, Fatchewer the orc, had found a comfortable place to pitch his tent and was now snoring away.. though his favourite weapon - a sturdy plank of wood - was still within arm’s reach. But not all slept soundly. The Denmother had insisted that he sleep in a proper bed that night - after so many troubled nights that granted him no rest, sleeping outside by the fire was doing him no good - so at sundown, Sairus bid the others goodnight, and retreated to his rarely used room, built into one side of the Great Hall. The bed wasn't luxurious - just a simple wood frame and a straw mattress, strewn with hides and furs for warmth - but it was enough to lull the exhausted Alpha to sleep. With sleep usually comes rest... but not this time. ... The dream spread out before his eyes was nightmarish. The sky scorched red and bloody, and clouds of black locusts swarmed and buzzed in his ears. Blackened, twisted trees loomed around him, choked and strangled in corrupted, snakelike vines. The creek that flowed nearby was polluted and putrefied with the remains of the dead and rotting, even the air was foul and heavy with the stench of decay. The horrid landscape of the Chaos Wastes, even in a dream, made Sairus want to retch. But that was nothing compared to the honeyed voice that chuckled behind him. "Hello Sairus." With a roar he spun, his blade slashing within a hair's breadth of the sorceress - but she was too quick and darted away, laughing as she went. "GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!" "As if I would face you one on one again - what do you take me for, Sairus, a fool?" the voice laughed through the trees. Alpha sprinted through the blackened trees, ripping past branches that raked at him, barely feeling them for the rage that fuelled him, chasing after the scathing laughter ahead... That chaos hellspawn would die by his hand once and for all! Sairus burst into a clearing, the briarsteel blade cleaving straight through a branch in his path... the same as what he'd do to her. The laughter cackled from all around him - but his rage was too strong for her illusions. Sairus took off again, wheeling left to cut her off, herding her like cattle into the cliffs - The rocky crags of broken earth suddenly loomed up ahead, and trapped her in. The sorceress darted left and right, but Sairus cut her off - finally, Sairus thought, she can't run anymore. With a snarl, the sorceress summoned two demonlings, twisted and haunted human forms, and commanded them forth, rushing towards the Alpha - but his blade cut through them like butter, the first from shoulder to hip, and the other through the neck, and both fell with anguished screams.. But Alpha simply stepped past them and rounded on the cornered sorceress, seeing the hatred and fear in her eyes... "You will NEVER hurt my family again, Morathai." Suddenly her act dropped, and a huge grin spilt across her face - something was wrong... "Oh my dear Sairus - You've taken care of that yourself." And his blade struck home, the dream faded around him, the landscape blowing away in the wind, the sorceress dissolved away with echoing laughter... ... Suddenly awake, Sairus took his bearings - starry skies, rich earth, briarvines... he was in the Briar, a few minutes’ walk from camp. 'Thank the Ancestors!' he thought 'I must have sleepwalked or something...' It was all a dream, the wastes, Morathai, the demonlings... but it seemed so real, even the weight of his sword... Looking down, Sairus realised he WAS holding his sword, the steel covered in blood. But... how could it be covered in blood? It was a dream! A sudden wheezing made Sairus whirl around - there on the ground, one slashed from shoulder to hip, and the other through the neck... were two of the pack's newest pups. "No... no no no..." Sairus darted forwards, his blade forgotten, desperately trying to hold the poor boy's wound closed. The young girl was already cold, there was nothing he could do for her. "JIRA!!" He called as loud as his voice could manage, hoping against hope that she and the other healers would get here in time... “JIRA!!” But by the time I got there, both pups had already passed to the spirit world. As the other healers did their best for the dead, Sairus recounted what happened. I listened as he described the dream, listened as he blamed himself. I argued that he was not at fault – it was the sorceress that sent the nightmare! But I could not deny it when Sairus pointed out his scar… the scar he earned from Morathai’s magic… while the scar was left unhealed, who knew what the remnants of Chaos magic was doing to him? That night, our Alpha left. He couldn’t put us in further danger. His self-exile is to protect us all.